Teresa (in the center) with her teachers at Institut Pere Calders
Teresa Soto, high school student at Institut Pere Calders, Bellaterra, has presented her Research Project (Treball de Recerca) entitled “Estudi comparatiu de dos polímers: la cel·lulosa bacteriana i la seda” (Comparative study of two polymers: bacterial cellulose and silk).
The project is about comparing the properties between these two biopolymers: bacterial cellulose, produced in our lab by the bacteria Gluconacetobacter xylinus, and silk, obtained from the cocoons of silkworms.
Today was the lab cleaning day! Everybody collaborated and we managed to clean all the lab and update all the chemicals database =)
We also wish good luck toQianzhe Zhangas new lab manager for the next months!
Thanks all!
And thank you Deyaa and Ma for the photos!
The lab was crowded for the lab cleaningDani, Luo and Irene cleaning the hoods and ovenMiquel updating the security cupboard chemical listMa and Anna with the chemical cupboard, and Ignasi and Jordi with the common material“Is that thermometer working?” Jordi asks himself.Ma and Ignasi, and outside, Monica, Aml and Deyaa.Working on updating the common material list.Lab cleaning: everybody with labcoat, gloves and goggles. Good laboratory practices!
Anna Laromaineappears in the MUY INTERESANTE magazine number 427 (December 2016). The magazine article highlights Anna’s carrer: from studying Chemistry at Universitat de Girona, to her PhD at ICMAB, and her multiple Postdoctoral Fellowships at University College London, MIT and Harvard, where she worked in different fields related to nanomaterials and biomedicine, before returning to ICMAB.
The article also emphasizes the fact that Anna is not only a prolific researcher; she also teaches at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, gives seminars and talks in high schools, and has founded her own startup company.
We hope you enjoy the article and learn a little bit more of one of our group members! Congratulations Anna!
Today and tomorrow (November 21-22) we have at ICMAB the members of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the Severo-Ochoa program, formed by internationally highly recognised researchers.
For this reason, this morning the coordinators of each Research Line have presented the main highlights, objectives and future perspectives of each Research Line. In the afternoon, the SAB members, guided by a PhD Student, had the opportunity to learn about the on-going research of each Research Group, with the help of the dedicated posters.
Our group had four posters on show:
Bacterial cellulose, a biopolymer with a myriad of potential applications
Evaluating inorganic nanoparticles in vivo on Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans)
Nanomaterials designed for pro-angiogenic therapies aimed at neurorepair after a stroke
Sofía Rubio, Ph.D. student of the Inorganic Nanoparticles Group at ICN2, presented the thesis “Increasing the resolution at the nanobiointerface with engineering inorganic nanoparticles”, which was supervised by the Group Leader, Víctor F. Puntes. The presentation took place on September 23, at 11.30 am at the ICN2 Seminar Room.
Anna Laromaine was part of the Thesis Defense Committee.
The conference consisted of some interesting debates on “How to measure the excellence and the impact of science”, “Great discoveries and controversy in the media”, or “Science museums and schools: how to develop mutual relations”. The other sessions consisted of different workshops about science, education, communication, social media, etc. A special mention to the session by Ignacio Morgado (from the Institute of Neuroscience of the UAB) on “Perceptual illusions: is the world how we see it?“, in which he made the audience realize that a lot of what we see, smell, hear… is only in our brain.
Fix the eye for one minute in the cross on the top-left side of the picture, and then move the eye to the right side. If everything works, you will see a greenish colour. Repeat for the bottom-left cross, and then you will see a yellow colour on the bottom-right. Does it work?
Also, a special mention for Escolab, a platform that organizes visits to Catalan research centers for secondary students, and Pendulum, an association that brings the kids to the nature for a scientific picnic in the middle of the Montseny Natural Park, among other scientific workshops and activities.
Irene, Laura, Iván, Pol and Jordi organizing the chemicals and the disposable material.
Today, Wednesday 13th July, was the day for the lab cleaning! All the group participated in the lab cleaning, and everyone was willing to cooperate and help in the cleaning tasks.
Who would miss the day we spend every three months organizing drawers of forgotten equipment, cleaning the hoods with different solvents trying to remove the stains, and updating long lists of reactives and lab material?!
Thank you to everyone! And a big thank you to Pol Sallés, who has been lab manager for the last 3 months and has organized today’s lab cleaning!
Anna and Teresa cleaning the refrigerator, and Judit and Qianzhe updating the security cabinet chemicals list.Deyaa, Adrià and Ander disposing the old waste and organizing the new waste containers and labels.Mònica and Laura updating the solvent list and cleaning the fume hood.
Last Friday, July 1st, the N&N Group did a Group Trip to visit the Paper Museum in Capellades (Museu Molí Paperer), and the Archaeological Site nearby (Abric Romaní).
As the Group is working with bacterial cellulose, we wanted to see how another type of paper was made and learn about the history of paper makers in Capellades. Victòria Rabal, director of the museum, guided us around the museum and taught us how to make some paper. And we did some!
On the other hand, the archaeologist Raül Bartrolí, explained us many things about the Neanderthals, and showed us some of the objects found in this unique archaeological site (see image), full of animal bones and flint tools (sílex).
We finished the trip with a picnic in the park, and a farewell to Sebastià Parets, as it was his last day with us!
